This weekend at the Royal Norfolk Showground the 57th boys and 49th girls English Schools Cross-Country Championships took place.

Some 45 county teams took part with many fielding up to eight athletes in each different age group.

Dereham had two junior members running for Norfolk, both picked for the team having qualified through earlier events in the school year. They were up against the best athletes from across the country in their age groups, over a flat, open course. The conditions were windy and were made worse in the afternoon by heavy rain.

First up was Ellie Foster in the intermediate girls race over 3.75k. With 345 girls running she found herself finishing 252nd place with a time of 14:53 and was the seventh Norfolk girl to finish.

The last race was the senior boys 7.2k race with 324 athletes competing. In 224th, leading Norfolk home was Jake Stearman in 25:49.